The Past Present Tense
by The Threat
Summary: Dekaranger . Other than going on with the cliffhanger with which I ended 'Asylum Break', this story will go deeper into the past of a certain character.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Dekaranger is owned by Toei Company.

Note: characters used in this chapter are mine.

* * *

A Western man, in a Western restaurant. He had already ordered himself a steak, which he had began eating. The man in question appeared to be somewhere in his late forties, was dressed in a black suit, which was considered to be fancy in a restaurant such as this. As he had finished half his steak, a waiter had arrived at his table.

"Er... sir?" he said, after which the man turned to look at him, "Some bum come in here, said he's here for you."

"Oh yes." the man said, "Send him in!"

The waiter didn't know what was going on, but he did as he was told anyway. He went away, and returned with the bum. A young man in his late teens. By the looks and the scent of him, he didn't seem to have prepared himself for meeting him.

"Couldn't you put on different clothes, and at least take a bath before coming here?" he asked.

"For meeting with the cop who arrested me? I'd better hurry up!" was the young man's sarcastic reply, "Besides, thanks to you I got to spare every dime I've got, so I can't even afford to take a bath."

"And yet you come here to eat?" the man remarked.

"You're buying." the young man replied.

The man sighed in laughter: "You're quite the character. Why won't you sit down?"

The young man didn't have much else of a choice, so he sat down opposite the old man. After that, the old man took something out of his briefcase, which laid on the seat next to him, so the young man hadn't seen it. That something was a yellow file, which had the young man's name written on it: William Frederick Wells.

The young man, Wells, sighed: "Here we go."

The old man, ignoring Wells's remark, read from the file: "So, William Frederick Wells. Bill, as you like to be called. You're known to be a child prodigy, who left home at the age of sixteen, and lived doing odd jobs to pay the bills."

Wells didn't do anything to stop the man from talking: "Strangely, you somehow found the time to take kendo lessons, and even target practice. Funny to see how your little payroll could allow you to do it. Then we found out how you did it. Over the internet you go by the alias Anders, who would copy software and distribute them illegally. You would also invade people's privacy through hacking into their computers, as long as you're payed enough."

That's when the old man stopped. Wells decided to say: "What? You're not gonna say your name's really Smith, and you need me to arrest a terrorist named Morpheus?"

The old man didn't understand the reference, likely because of the little generation gap between them, but laughed slightly anyway. Then he continued: "I could go on with mentioning all the things in this file that aren't facts, but I don't want to bore you with that."

Wells looked at him surprised: "What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't know much about computers..." the old man explained, "... but I do know that whatever your hard driver, or something, said..."

"You mean my hard drive." Wells corrected him flatly.

"Anyway, it showed you had hacked into systems, but not the ones you're accused of." the old man continued, "It's like the Bureau found themselves a hacker and decided to blame him for all crimes that have been committed against them."

"For a cop, you don't seem to have much respect for the authorities." Wells remarked.

Ignoring the remark, the old man asked: "I take it that after you got out of jail, you can't get a job?"

"Not with the feds... the FBI monitoring my every move." Wells replied, flatly, again.

"Indeed." the old man said, "What if I told you that there's a place for you at the station?"

"I'd say you've invited the wrong guy." Wells replied, "Didn't think you'd be THAT old to turn senile."

The fact that Wells said that, the old man realized he's doing the right thing: "No respect for authority, knows his ways around the rules... someone like you would make an excellent policeman."

Wells laughed, though he wasn't sure he should laugh out loud or not: "I've been fighting authority, and because of that you want me to become authority?"

The old man didn't need to think about what he was about to say: "There was a time when I was a prodigy. But now that I'm a superior officer, I can't afford to be that. But with some younger blood..."

"And that has to be me, why?" Wells still wasn't convinced.

"Because I'm sure you don't have any other choice." the old man replied.


	2. Chapter 2

Today, at Dekabase.

Apart from the usual team, a small group of other people was in the conference hall as well. One of them was Bunta, the man who had trained the main five Dekaranger to use the S.W.A.T.-mode. Another was Gyoku Rou, mentor of the Fire Squad, who had come accompanied by tow other members, whom the team had met before on their moon mission: Rigusu Nao and Murtaugufu Yujiro. Along with them also came Flora, and Falufa Seijin Yaako. There was also somebody else, but she didn't at all appear familiar to anyone, nor did she act quite as human as everyone else does. After everyone said their hellos to people they hadn't seen in a long time, they got introduced to that last person.

"This here is Fauna." Bunta introduced her, "She's a, as I understand, copy of Flora. Not as advanced as the first, but she's learning!"

"I'm teaching her everything you've taught me, Sen." Flora assured him.

Sen appeared flattered, while everyone expressed their amazement about how Fauna looked.

"Er... shall we cut to the chase already?" one lesser active person in the room, namely Wells, interrupted all the hello's, "What brings the lot of you here?"

"Oh, come on now, you westerner!" Ban exclaimed, "Just because you have no friends that..."

"I have you to thank for that, don't I." Wells interrupted him, suddenly sounding less happy than he did seconds ago.

"You're not happy to see any of us again then?" Yujiro asked him.

"I'm just curious, that's all." Wells replied.

Gyoku was the one to give in and to decide to explain: "As you're all aware, there are six mercenaries out there, each capable of the most extraordinary things."

"One of us more than anyone else." Hoji whined, looking into Wells's direction.

Bunta, ignoring Hoji's remark, continued: "Those six haven't been quiet in those past days that they escaped from the base."

He motioned to Fauna, who then inserted her finger into one of the computers, after which some kind of surveillance footage got shown on screen. It showed how two of the six entered the a room, of a seemingly rich house. These two were the teleporting guy, known to everyone as Sam, along with the girl who could multiply herself, who called herself Z. These two got teleported into a room where they found a small girl. Judging from the looks of that girl, everybody recognized her as that Umeko look-alike, Tokaasa Seijin Princess Io Yonmaricchi. When the two trespassers entered, bodyguards were ready to strike, but Z had herself multiplied and fought them. Sam, meanwhile, held something that looked like a palmtop, in front of the Princess. A light appeared, and suddenly instead of the Princess, there was some kind of a card lying on the floor. Sam picked it up, as he grabbed Z, of whom there was only one left, and teleported out of the house.

"No way!" Umeko exclaimed.

"What just happened there?" Sen asked.

"We weren't sure of that ourselves either, until..." Gyoku started, as he took something out of his pocket. It was a card, which held the picture of somebody that Ban knew only too well: Bettonin, who had confused Ban for an ancestor of his. At first everyone thought it was a picture, until it appeared to be moving.

Before anyone could say anything, Gyoku explained to them: "It appears that their palmtops somehow hold the power to turn people into cards. Not only that, it also seemed to somehow preserve them, as if they were in some kind of stasis."

"Can't you help him out?" Ban nearly begged.

"Believe me, even I tried." Yaako replied.

"If even you can't open it..." Sen thought out loud, "... you who can open every lock."

"I know!" Yaako too was frustrated.

"So they force people to live in those cards forever?" Hoji sounded terrified at that, "I'd rather be deleted!"

"It makes sense in a way, though." Wells figured, "A dead body leaves too many marks, and killing someone is considered to be too cruel, so the best way to dispose of people is that."

"How can you say such a thing!?" Ban shouted at him.

"These two aren't the only ones who had been captured like this." Nao started, "Among them there are Zamaiza Seijin Maira, Licht Seijin Teresa, Chanbena Seijin Gin, Chikyuu Seijin Hikaru,..."

One by one, these names meant something to every member of the team. Ignoring how the team looked, Nao was about to continue reading from the list, but Yujiro interrupted her: "They even got to Dekabright!"

That's when Tetsu, too, was shocked. Ignoring him too, Yujiro continued: "Each and everyone of them simply vanished without a trace. We were only lucky to intercept them from taking that Bettonin. It was the only way for us to figure out what was going on."

Jasmine sensed from Wells how he felt about their continues explaining, and she agreed with him, so she interrupted: "I'm sorry, but you still didn't tell us why that brings you here?"

"A special task-force was assembled to find them, retrieve their palmtops, and study whatever it is that get them to make these cards." Bunta finally answered.

"A special task-force?" Ban shouted, "What about us?"

"One, they escaped under your watch." Gyoku replied, "Two, since each one of you are connected to some of the victims, we're afraid you'll take all this too personal."

"So we came here to relieve you of that burden." Nao said, flatly.

"What!" six of the Dekarangers shouted in unison.

Only Wells didn't shout anything, but laughed instead: "Why did I see that coming?!"

"Also..." Flora added, "... if they can somehow get hold of a Tokukyou, like Dekabright, they are too dangerous for you to handle."

"We've stopped them before!" Ban stood his ground.

"And you let them escape!" Gyoku said, "I'm sorry, Banban, but that's what's decided."


	3. Chapter 3

As the guests were leaving, somebody else entered the room. It was Shelly, who held a package.

"Wells, I think this is for you." she said.

"You... think?" Wells wasn't sure how to feel about this.

"The addresses are in a western alphabet, so... for who else could it be?" Shelly replied.

Wells took it, looked at the sender's address, opened it... he did whatever one is supposed to do when they receive a package, while at the same time Shelly left the conference room.

Meanwhile, however, the other Dekarangers were in a heated discussion about why they have been relieved of the case.

"I just don't understand it!" Ban was angrier than ever, "Just because they escaped from us, we can't do anything!"

"You're not the only one, Ban." Sen reminded him, "It hurts us too, the idea that we can't help our own friends."

"But why are they hurting them?" Umeko wondered, "They've done nothing wrong to them!"

"Maybe they want payback for us arresting them." Tetsu figured.

"They are made to follow orders, they can't plan on revenge for themselves." Jasmine reminded him.

"A more pressing question is, how could they have escaped?" Hoji wondered, "I mean, according to both Swan and Shelly all the systems that were to keep them were on-line. There was no way they could've have escaped unless..."

Hoji stopped his sentence, after which he turned his head to look at Wells.

Umeko was the first to respond: "Unless what?"

"Unless somebody switched them off!" Hoji finished his sentence as he got up, agitated.

Ban looked at whom Hoji was looking, and got up in the same manner: "Of course! That makes sense!"

"Ban! Hoji!" Doggy got up himself, "This isn't the time to point the finger at people! Especially at him just because you don't like him!"

"Come on, Boss!" Hoji tried to convince him, "So far, all he did was making a fool out of us. By allowing those six to escape, he'd point out just how..."

"Stop it already!" Umeko was more pissed than anybody else, "Everything he does is bad to you, isn't it?!"

"Plus he's western!" Ban added.

"For once, that's an excellent point, Ban." Hoji sounded as if he congratulated him.

The discussion was heating on, but Jasmine appeared to be the only one to notice that Wells hadn't replied to anything anybody said. She got out of her chair to approach him. Once she was in closer range, she could hear his thoughts better over everybody's bickering. He appeared to be holding something that looked like a typically American police badge, which got damaged somehow. Wells, on the other hand had a lot going through his mind, but Jasmine could only pick up one name he thought of.

"Lakewood?" Jasmine said out loud, which got everyone else to stop bickering.

When Wells heard the name he turned around, bewildered about her sudden mention of the name.

"Who's Lakewood?" she asked him.

"Isn't that your..." Doggy started, but got interrupted.

"Yes!" Wells answered abruptly.

Nobody really understood why, but before they knew it, he had put the badge back into the box, closed it and got out of the room.

"See!" Hoji thought his thoughts have been confirmed, "He runs away. Clearly he's hiding something."

"I don't think so." Jasmine contradicted, "His mind wasn't at all in here. He was thinking about lot's of things."

"And how do you know he's not just trying to fool you?" Ban asked her.

"You have to admit though..." Sen remained open minded about this, "...ever since the appearance of the six... no, actually it was already before that, he has been acting very weird."

"Enough already!" Doggy shouted.

"Boss, please!" Ban urged him.

"Why won't you stop making him look bad?" Umeko can't understand it.

"He has won the confidence of the most of us." Tetsu thought out loud, "If he were a traitor, you must say he..."

"He's not a traitor!" Jasmine yelled to everyone.

"How can you be so sure?" Hoji questioned, "Because he's been so good to you?"

Jasmine couldn't answer the question, but Doggy talked for her instead: "She's right though. Wells can't be a traitor."

"How can you be so sure?" Hoji asked him, almost with a mock tone.

"Because he's been looking for the traitor for months now!"

Everyone put up their surprise faces, as the room became silent.

Doggy explained: "For a while, he suspected that some things weren't quite right about what's been going on. Shortly after the moon mission, he told me about all of that."

"He's known about a traitor for so long and he didn't tell us?" Umeko sounded displeased.

"He could've told you, but not without the risk of you confiding with the wrong people. That's why he only told me and nobody else, not even Swan."

A thought crossed Jasmine's mind: "Th... that time I completely lost it... did that traitor...?"

"Yes." Doggy replied, "It wasn't just your emotions. Somebody had tempered with your mind."

Suddenly, Jasmine had it figured out: "That's why he's been so distant lately!"

"I don't care how you feel about him. Especially you two!" Doggy was referring to Ban and Hoji when he said that last bit, "But I trust him with my life. And unless you prove me otherwise, that will never change."

He stopped talking. Ban and Hoji were, though quiet, still angry about the situation. Umeko was pleased that this was sorted out, which in turn made Sen happy. Tetsu felt there was nothing to worry about. Jasmine, on the other hand, she felt bad about how she's been acting to Wells lately.


	4. Chapter 4

A few months earlier:

Wells had been called to the chief's office, at the station he worked at back then. When he arrived, the first thing he noticed was a Asian man, carrying some kind of file, but also dressed in a peculiar uniform. It was nothing he had seen before, but the man's insignia read S.P.D. That was an abbreviation he had heard before, still... What would an SPDer be doing here?

"Wells." the chief said, "Meet er..."

The chief needed to read the man's name, so he picked up a piece of paper and read out loud: "... Okumura Shun."

The man, Shun, repeated the name, for he felt that the chief had mispronounced it.

"Whatever." the chief said, "He came here to see you."

Wells looked concerned: "Why?"

"Hey!" the chief got up in anger, "You're the one that's been nagging to get transferred! So show some gratitude!"

"Gentremen!" Shun interrupted, "It may be best if I speak to him alone."

Wells was surprised to hear Shun's accent. This caused him to laugh: "You're transferring me to Japan? You must be really desperate, aren't you."

The chief has had enough: "It's not because Lakewood is..."

"Don't even think about finishing that sentence!" Wells shouted, interrupting the chief.

"Mister Poricu Chief!" Shun interrupted, "Mayube you shourudo retto us decido if we wanto him wiz ussu."

The chief wasn't sure if he understood him correctly, but Wells replied for him: "I may know a place where we can talk in private."

Shun and Wells had settled themselves in an interrogation room. Once both of them had each sat down to a chair, Shun began saying something in Japanese.

"Er..." Wells replied, "The only bit I got was that you're a... bronze detective?"

"You know some Japanese then." Shun continued, "Not so surprising, since you're doing kendo, as you fi..."

"I feel that in the past year, I heard the words "your file" one too many times." Wells whined.

Shun laughed: "I supposu you'd rather hab me getto down to bussinessu. You eber heardo of S.P.D.?"

"A less secretive version of the Men In Black, right?" Wells said, with his usual dry tone.

"In a way, yes." Shun replied, "Zey are an agency of highry torained professionarus, who are to monitor arru criminaru actibity causetto by Alieniza."

"And what does that have to do with me?" Wells asked.

"Only zat ze Earthu Branch needs a new memba." Shun replied, "Zey have searchetto troughoutto ze whoru garaxy, but nobody issu avairaburu."

"And you folks decided to pick me because...?"

"We saw zat you have requestetto for a transuferrencu for so many times in the past weeks."

"Yeah, well given my history there ain't a great deal of people who want to hire me."

Shun didn't understand much of this statement, but he continued anyway: "Zere are ozer agenttos who are better zan you. But you are ze only one who knows some Japanese. Zat's why you are ze bestto candidatto for zis."

"I see." Wells replied flatly, "I suppose I wanted to get away from here as far as possible. I suppose Japan is my best option."

"You may notto arruways hab to be in Japan. But into spacu as werru."

"Even better!" Wells laughed, "What will happen?"

"You wirru have a fast coursu in Japanese, and wirru be trained to use somu of our weapons and tactics."

"Such as?" Wells wondered.

Shun shoved another file under his nose. Wells opened it, flipped through it, and after a while decided to say: "This spandex suit is supposed to be protective armor?"

"Doesu zatto mean you arru in?" Shun asked.

Back at the present: Wells was carrying his box under his arm. Whatever the insides mean to him, it clearly has him in a state of being sentimental. Something he had been able to shield from his teammates before, up to a certain height. In any case, he decided he had to put this box at his own apartment, so he left the building. What he didn't expect, was to see the 'special task-force' standing outside, in plain view, discussing their next move.

"I'm pretty sure that must have been the case." Yaako stated.

"So we were right to discuss this outside the building." Bunta sighed.

"I still feel we had to have Sen and the others involved." Flora sounded sad, "I mean..."

"I know how you must feel..." Gyoku replied, "... but for as far as we know, only one member of that team is aware of the presence of a mole. We can't risk having them find out, so that the mole won't be alarmed."

"But we do know for sure that 'the six' must have smuggled themselves into one of our shuttles, so that they can visit other planets, and do what they do." Yujiro said.

"Yes." Gyoku confirmed, "That's exactly why we must be on the next shuttle, wherever it may go."

"The next one is in the next hour." Fauna reminded everyone.

"That build-in clock of yours is serving you well, isn't it?" Flora cheered.

"As is your build-in License." Fauna added, "I can just look at you people and judge you."

"Save that for later!" Nao stopped her from talking any further, "We've got a job to do!"

"Right." Bunta agreed, "Let's get to the shuttle!"


	5. Chapter 5

A little while later, a kaijuuki had appeared. The Dekaranger Robo was at the scene, doing all it can to stop it.

"You won't get away from us!" Dekared shouted.

The Robo shot the kaijuuki, severing it of it's arm.

"Oh! What you do that for?" the Alienizer inside the kaijuuki whined.

"You're a criminal, and we are the police." Dekablue replied.

"And we will stop you!" Dekapink shouted.

Suddenly, Dekabike Robo had the kaijuuki in it's grip.

"I'm going in!" Dekabreak stated, before he left his Robo to get inside the kaijuuki.

He got in, surprised the Alienizer, grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him out. Once it hit the ground, Dekayellow was there to arrest him: "Got you!"

Dekagreen, meanwhile, took something from the Alienizer: "And this goes back to it's rightful owner."

Sen did exactly like he said he would, and returned the purse that the Alienizer took to it's rightful owner. The lady was pleased to see the police doing such a fine job, but Sen wasn't too pleased about this at all. Once he returned to his colleagues, he noticed that everyone felt the same way.

"This bothers you too?"

"We are stuck here, taking care of petty theft while our friends need our help!" Umeko whined.

"This 'petty theft' as you call it is still theft, and it needs to be taken care of." Hoji remarked.

"You don't think this is fair, do you Partner?" Ban couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Hoji took his time, but he replied eitherway: "No, I don't think it is."

"And our Deka-machines weren't made for something as inferior as this." Jasmine stated.

"You'd think there's somebody..." Tetsu started, but a voice from their Licenses called them.

"Everybody!" it was Doggy, "Return to Dekabase immediately!"

As fast as they could, the six Dekarangers returned to the base, only to see a video-message somebody had send. Whoever was on the screen, was wearing a army-green Dekasuit, which appeared to be equipped just like the other Dekas's S.W.A.T.-suits, with the roman numeral "C" as designation number. Only when this person spoke did the Dekarangers recognize who he was.

"This is Dekacenturion, with a message for Dekabase!" Bunta spoke, "We hoped to ambush the Six, but they managed to ambush us instead! Half of us have been turned into cards! Possibly more! We can't..."

That's when something happened. Nobody could know for sure, but it looked like somebody kicked Bunta's, or Dekacenturion's, License out of his hands. A voice spoke, but nobody could be sure of what it said.

Sen appeared to be one of the few to keep his mind straight, as he asked: "What is he saying."

"He says 'So this is another leader'." Jasmine replied, without looking at her License, which usually translated for everyone, "And then there's laughter."

Whoever it was that spoke, showed his face on the screen. It was the one who could walk through solid matter, the one that called himself Jack. He said something in English, but after pressing a few buttons on Doggy's desk, he spoke Japanese instead.

"Hello there! You must be these so-called Dekarangers! Jesus, what kind of a word is Deka, really!?"

"Damn that westerner!" Ban cursed.

"Anyway, get a load of this!"

He pointed the License to the other five, whom for some reason had decided to not turn Bunta or Gyoku into cards.

"We haven't turned them into cards yet." Jack continued, "But we will do so if... I'm sorry."

He turned to the other five and asked: "What were they called again?"

The guy who could create shields, who called himself Sky, replied: "I believe it was first Deka, then their colors. Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink, and something else, Break I think."

"That's not a color." one of the girls, the one that called herself Syd, replied.

"I can't help it if these Japanese folks don't make much sense, Syd." Sky remarked.

"And why calling themselves Dekasomething anyway." another guy, the one they call Bridge, stated, "Why not something simple as... I dunno."

"Bridge, did we ask you?" Syd moaned.

"Anyway!" Jack returned to the License, "You heard me! Those six of you better come to us! We are inside a shuttle in a orbit around the planet! Come here, and we'll let them go!"

"You tell them, Jack!" one of the other five said, but nobody was sure which one it was.

Ban burst out in anger after seeing this video: "Why do they keep doing this?! Why do they treat our friends like this?!"

Doggy, meanwhile, had turned to another screen to talk to Swan: "Swan? Have you figured out how to free people from their cards?"

"No, Doggy." Swan sounded as if she was about to cry, "These things were made to keep people in it forever, I'm afraid. There is no way to help them out."

"Then we have no choice." Sen started, "But to get to that shuttle and avenge our friends!"

"And keep them from locking up Gyoko and Bunta!" Umeko added.

"Wait a minute!" Hoji found something peculiar about this, "Why just the six of us? Why not..."

"It doesn't matter!" Tetsu reminded, "We have a job to do, so let's get to it!"

"Don't even think of implying that Wells is somehow connected to this!" Jasmine nearly threatened Hoji, "They didn't ask Boss to be there either, or Swan-san, or anyone else! Just us six!"

Hoji couldn't do anything else but to remain silent about his aquisitions.


	6. Chapter 6

The six Dekarangers got onto a smaller shuttle, made especially for events such as this. This marked the first time they had to ever use this, for such events never took place, for as far as they knew. With that shuttle, they boarded the one where the hostage situation took place. Once they entered, multiple Z's were awaiting them. One of them said something, after which another one motioned them to come along.

"How are we supposed to communicate with them if we don't know each other's language?" Tetsu wondered.

Before anyone could answer, one of the Z's hit him against the head, cursing something.

"Now I know what's worse than having one westerner in our team." Ban remarked.

They all arrived where the other ones where. Bunta appeared to be unconscious, while Gyoku, who couldn't put up much of a fight given his injury, was being held by the ones who call themselves Sky and Syd. The latter of them appeared to be cheating, as she had changed her body into the same metal that the shuttle was made of.

The leader, Jack, said something to them.

"What did he say?" Umeko wondered.

" 'So you came'." Jasmine translated.

"He's even more arrogant than..." Ban started.

"Let me try this." Hoji interrupted him.

He started saying something in English to the other ones. Whatever it was that the other six said, you didn't need to know any English to realize that they didn't understand a word of what Hoji said.

"Suddenly they don't know their own language?" Hoji couldn't understand.

"They do, they just don't understand your accent." Jasmine explained him.

Again, Jack said something, which Jasmine translated: "He said he wants us to fight them, without any weapons or special powers."

"That's all they want?" Ban couldn't understand.

"And how can we be sure they won't use their own powers?" Sen wondered.

"And why do they assume we all have them?" Umeko asked.

"Are you sure that's all he said?" Tetsu was confused, "I thought he said more."

"If we rule out his opinion about us, we can say: yes, that's all he said!" Hoji replied.

Suddenly, a loud voice came from behind the other six. The voice spoke American English, but everyone knew who it was.

"Wells?" Sen exclaimed, "How did he get here?"

The other six turned to look at who spoke to them. That's when the Dekarangers thought to see their chance, but the other Z's are still around to stop them. They said something in unison, for which you don't need to know their language to know it meant: "Try anything and you're dead" or something in that nature.

Jack turned to speak to Wells: "Well, I didn't think there'd be anyone else in here!"

"Oh, quit lying!" Wells sighed, "I know you guys can't think."

"We can't?" Bridge asked.

Z, the original, smacked Bridge to his head: "Idiot, that's an insult!"

"You try anything, and this... this cat... thing here will have it!" Jack warned Wells.

"Why should I care about what happens to that guy?" Wells replied, "He's hardly even worthy of my respect."

"He doesn't care for the cripple?" Sam didn't understand.

"Try anything and they will get it then!" Jack threatened, as he pointed to the Dekarangers.

Those who were free to hold a gun, pointed their guns to whom Jack pointed.

As they were talking, and Jasmine translated for the others, Ban got shocked to hear what Wells had said: "Not worthy of his respect?! Who does he think he is?"

Shortly after his outburst, the guns were all aimed at them. The leader of the six said something else, but Jasmine didn't care about that. She raised her hand slightly, to point it to Wells. She noticed some kind of look upon his face which suggested that something went through his mind, of which Jasmine wanted to know more. Once she knew more, she couldn't help but feel sorry for his currant situation.

"Oh no..." she breathed.

"Got that right!" Hoji agreed, thinking that he was thinking of the same thing as she was.

Wells seemed to hesitate as to what to do next. He had his gun pointed to the other six, but his hands were shaking wildly.

"Put down that gun..." Jack told him, "... and they'll be alright."

Wells didn't put it down, although he did seem to be considering it. There was something about this scene that got him indecisive. The smart thing to do would be to put down the gun, but something kept him from doing this.

"Well?" Hoji complained, "He has to put down the gun to save us! Why isn't he?"

"Hoji, shut up!" Jasmine stopped him from going to far, "This is something you'll never understand."

"What?" Hoji couldn't understand alright, "What's to not understand? He doesn't care about saving us!"

"It goes much deeper than that." Jasmine assured him.


	7. Chapter 7

A little over a year earlier:

Wells was outside a coffee shop, along with the old man who recruited him, now his partner. At the time, he had something to show Wells, a new police badge. Wells looked at it, after which he took it out of his partner's hands in order to take a better look.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Wells remarked, "You got promoted to Captain?"

"Well..." the old man did seem modest, "With all the hard work you put into this job, it is I as a superior officer and partner who takes the credit. That's how I got the promotion."

Wells sighed: "Of course. The officials have to live up to their reputation, don't they?!"

The old man smiled: "Don't worry. My first job as Captain will be to get you the promotion you deserve."

Wells looked at his partner in utter disbelief: "I... I wh... wh... what?"

The old man laughed: "Our currant chief may not see your talents, but I do. And being in the position I am..."

He got interrupted by his cellular phone. He reluctantly took it out of his pocket: "Damn, I hate these things."

"Quite normal at your age." Wells remarked.

"Lakewood." the old man answered the phone, "... He is? Where?... OK, we're on it!"

He disconnected his phone and turned to Wells: "Someone has seen our man. We'd better get going!"

He already turned to run to the car. Wells was about to do the same, but remembered he still had the old man's, or Lakewood's, batch in his hands. Deciding there was no time to give that back first, he put the badge in his inside coat-pocket.

They arrived at what looked like an old and abandoned warehouse. The first thing that Wells said as they got there was: "Why do these guys always hide in places like these?"

"You've seen a lot of movies yourself." Lakewood replied, "Why do they do it in there?"

Wells sighed: "Talk about 'life imitates art'."

"Let's go!" Lakewood commanded.

Wells was reluctant: "Shouldn't we wait for back-up first?"

"Since when does that stop you?" Lakewood wondered.

"Well, it was your last promotion that got you to hire me, so I figure this new one would get you to follow the rules more."

"Yes. That would make sense, wouldn't it?" Lakewood replied as he got out anyway.

Wells sighed more deeply than earlier. He has spend a few years being this guy's partner, and he still hasn't figured him out. No matter, he thought as he got out too.

Lakewood got inside the building one way, Wells got in another. He got from one door to another, eventually getting inside some storage room, stacked with boxes. It would be a smart thing to not walk through here, for this is the place where their suspect could easily ambush him. Suddenly, he heard a gunshot, one of which the bullet only just got right passed him. Wells heard a window shatter behind him. He got a quick look around, quick enough to spot the shooter running away. This may be dangerous, but it's the best chance he could ever get to apprehend this guy. He followed the shooter as fast as he could. It didn't take long before he got inside a less filled room. In here, it was even more dangerous to be, because here he was more exposed than anywhere else in the building.

"Hey asshole!" a voice called at him. Wells turned to look. He saw the man he and Lakewood were looking for for so long. Unfortunately, that man wasn't alone, he had Lakewood in his grip, with a gun held up to his head.

"Drop your weapon or the old man gets it!" the man shouted.

Wells didn't drop his gun. He held it up, aiming at the man's head: "You drop yours, and I might spare your life. It's your choice."

The man exclaimed: "You think I don't dare to shoot?"

He pointed his gun to Wells's right leg and fired a shot. Wells had already felt the pain souring in his leg before he heard the shot, not that he was completely aware of that fact. In any case, the pain got him to lose balance on his legs, so he fell down.

"Wells!" Lakewood exclaimed, but the shooter tightened his grip on him.

"One more sound and I'll..."

Before he could say another word, Lakewood had already punched his elbow into the man's stomach. Once he started to lose focus, Lakewood punched him in the face as well. After that, he ran to Wells.

"You alright?" he asked.

Wells could bring himself to try and sit up, but not to say a word. Not that it would have mattered, for both he and Lakewood heard a gun clicking. Lakewood turned to look at the man. He had his gun pointed at Wells's chest. Realizing that much, Lakewood tried to talk to him: "Put the gun down."

"You say one more word and I will shoot him!"

"Put the gun down!" Lakewood persisted, "You kill someone, and you won't be charged for petty theft alone."

"I said shut up!" the man shouted.

"Listen to me." Lakewood didn't listen to the man, "You don't want to be punished for murder. You know why? Because that's not your nature."

"SHUT UP!!!"

The man thought that Lakewood had went too far this time. He still had his aim on Wells's chest, so he decided to shoot him. He fired the shot. Lakewood quickly turned around, only just seeing the hole that the bullet made in Wells's coat. Angry, Lakewood jumped at the man.

A heavy fight is what followed, on in which it was obvious which one of the two was more experienced in fighting. Unfortunately, it didn't last long, for the man had shot one last shot into Lakewood's heart. Looking at his face, which was bewildered, the man said: "If you just did what I told you..."

Lakewood fell down, motionless. The man smiled, for he finally got this old cop to shut up. His joy however wasn't lasting, for he suddenly felt a jolt of pain running through his shoulder-blade. He fell down, confused of what may have caused this. He looked up, to see the younger cop, Wells, still standing on his feet, despite the pain he must be feeling in his leg. The man didn't care. He raised his gun, only for it to be smashed out of his hands. Wells held some kind of old pipe as if it were a baseball-bat, with which he had hit the man in his shoulder, and of course unarmed him.

Not recognizing the mistake he made, the man tried to talk his way out of it: "Hey man... if only he had..."

Wells didn't listen to him. He punched the pipe into the man's stomach, then on his shoulder again, and at last on his head.

As the man fell unconscious, or died, Wells didn't know for sure, but he did know that his injured leg couldn't hold him much longer. He fell to the floor again and landed on his injured leg, which caused such a terrible pain. That pain wasn't only in his leg, but also in his chest, which was weird, considering that he wasn't injured there, another weird thing on it's own. He felt underneath his coat, only to find Lakewood's badge he still had there. As it appeared, it caught the bullet for him. After he realized this, he looked at Lakewood's life-less body. By then, blood had already started flowing out of his body, causing him to be lying in a puddle of his own blood.


	8. Chapter 8

Today, we find Wells in a similar situation. It is part of training to try and get the enemy to put down their own weapons, and if possible to keep his own in his hands. He had done as his training told him to do, and it cost the life of the one person he ever respected back in the States. Bearing all that in mind, he didn't know what to do. If he dropped his weapon he would give up the one chance everyone has to escape these six, but if he didn't he risks the lives of the others.

"What's he doing?" Sky wondered.

"Let me see." Bridge said, as he took off his glove.

What Bridge was about to do appeared vaguely familiar to everyone else.

Ban exclaimed: "He wears gloves for the same reason as you you, Jasmine? The nerve to copy y..."

The Z's pointed their guns at Ban, saying something in English. Ban immediately shut up.

"Well?" Sky asked Bridge, "What's going on?"

"I don't know." he replied, "All I hear is music!"

"You wanna know what's on my mind?!" Wells started, "Fine I'll tell you governmental freaks what's on my mind!"

"Freaks?!" Syd got agitated by this insult, "It's not because we can do things you can't..."

"Things like not thinking?" Wells interrupted her, "You guys ruin other people's lives without any regret, just like the government that created you. And that is what makes you freaks!"

"What the hell is he going on about?" Hoji couldn't understand what made Wells so active all the sudden.

Jasmine did reply, but instead told him: "Let him do what he must."

"It's because I found out about you people that I got in jail and lost my life as I once knew it!" Wells continued, "Once it was picking it up again, I met a father I never had, but he too was taken from me! Then I got my self to Japan, where things seem to be going alright, until you guys show up! You messed with my girlfriend's head, but for security reason's I'm the only one in this station who's aware of that. Because of it, she won't even talk to me anymore! And now you're about to kill the only people who ever wanted to be friends of mine! But you know what's the most frustrating part of it all? There's someone in here who can do something about it, but he's too busy being a crippled man!"

"He said what?" That's when the Dekaranger's felt he had crossed a line.

Although Wells had heard them react the way they did, he didn't care, for he knew that his statement wasn't as insulting as the others interpreted it.

"Too busy to be cripple?" Jack replied, "What are you talking about?"

Wells turned his head to Gyoku, and spoke in Japanese: "You can drop the act now. I know you don't need that cane!"

"Don't even think of trying!" Sky shouted, pointing his gun at Wells.

Gyoku, meanwhile, realized that Wells was right. He tightened his grip on his cane, which he then used to beat Sky in his belly, after which he punched Syd in the face. In reflex, the other four attacked Gyoku too, but he was somehow able to whip all four of them. He fought very well, too well even for a crippled man. Unless of course...

"He..." Sen was saying what the other five were merely thinking, "He's not cripple?"

"How... how's this possible?" Hoji couldn't understand it himself.

"But... he always needed his cane!" Ban agreed.

"How long has Bill known?" was all that was on Jasmine's mind.

Meanwhile, Gyoku had the other six down. However, they recovered faster than he had anticipated. Quick enough, they too raised some kind of License of their own, similar to what the Dekarangers use. All six of them stroke a similar pose, and exclaimed something that sounded like: "U.S.T.! Emergency!"

When Wells heard them say that, he smacked his forehead, mumbling: "United States Task-force, of course. Sigh Now I don't know what's worse: the original or the rip-off."

The six had transformed into what looked like spandex-suits, slightly heavier armored than the Dekarangers'. Other than the fact they all bore the same color (black), they wore heavier boots and gloves, shoulder pads, and something else to which Tetsu remarked: "Are they wearing diapers?"

"That doesn't scare me!" Gyoku snickered, as he raised his License and stroke his own pose as he exclaimed: "Emergency! Dekafire!"

He changed into his suit, which bore close resemblance to Doggy's suit, if it weren't for the fact that the spandex-suit was completely red and his chest-armor was blue, bearing his designation number in yellow: the roman numeral I.

"Face on!" he added, after which his helmet appeared to cover his head, which too was specially modified for Gyoku's ears to fit in the helmet.

Wells sighed, as he merely pressed the button on his own License and changed into Dekasilver.

"The darkness that come..." Dekafire started, "... shall fear the light of fire! Detective of light! Dekafire!"

The other Dekarangers were aghast to see him perform like this. This however didn't ladt long, thanks to Dekasilver: "What are you guys doing?! Henshin yourself too!"

The six of them woke from their trance and nodded: "Emergency! Dekaranger!"


	9. Chapter 9

Dekared: "One! Detesting outrageously evil deeds!"  
Dekablue: "Two! Solving mysterious cases!"  
Dekagreen: "Three! Investigating with futuristic science!"  
Dekayellow: "Four! The evils fostered from the universe…"  
Dekapink: "Five! …with immediate speed, exterminate them!"  
Dekabreak: "Six! It's good to be invincible!"

All six together: "S.P.D.!"

One by one they exclaimed, respectively:

"Dekared!"

"Dekablue!"

"Dekagreen!"

"Dekayellow!"

"Dekapink!"

"Dekabreak!"

All six together: "Tokusou Sentai! Dekaranger!"

The other six were infuriated by the Dekarangers showing off like that. One by one, they too started to strike their own pose, saying words that didn't mean anything. Meanwhile, Dekasilver started talking to Dekafire.

"Maybe it's best if you go get that other guy into the shuttle."

When Dekafire looked at whom Dekasilver was pointing, which was the still unconscious Bunta, he turned his head back to him: "What about...?"

"I think this is something they should do for themselves." he interrupted.

"And what about you?"

"I don't know! I'll think of something!" Dekasilver replied.

"And why should I take orders from you?"

Dekasilver ignored him. Dekafire realized that whatever he might say won't have any effect on him, so he decided to do as was suggested. He helped Bunta up to get him inside the shuttle.

Dekasilver watched the other... twelve in total, as they engaged themselves into battle. The funny part about this must be the fact that neither one of the other six tried to abuse their powers, as all of the Dekarangers anticipated they would. Suddenly, Dekasilver noticed that they were dropping things that looked like cards. Those must thé cards who imprisoned people. With the idea that the twelve fighters might accidentally step on them, Dekasilver rushed in to save them. Unfortunately for him, the battle was too heave, he only managed to pick up two of the dropped cards. As it turned out, he picked up the right cards.

"If only I understood this technology better, I might be able to get us out!" Yaako whined from one card.

"Well if I get this right..." Fauna, who was in the card, replied, as she started to use techno-babble, which somehow appeared to mean something to Yaako.

"Oh! Well, in that case..." she replied, as some kind of light appeared from the cards, causing Dekasilver to instinctively drop them.

That's when both Fauna and Yaako appeared, as their cards vanished into thin air.

"Fauna, you're the greatest!" Yaako congratulated her.

"Talk about 'Deus Ex Machina'." Dekasilver remarked.

"You mean 'God in a machine?" Fauna asked.

"What does that mean?" Yaako had no idea what either of them were going on about.

"Never mind that." Dekasilver replied, "There are other cards they dropped as well. Perhaps you guys can help collecting them!"

"Alright! Let's!" Yaako replied, as she started to strike a pose of her own, "Emergency! Dekafairy!"

Fauna followed her example: "Emergency! Dekadroid!"

Dekasilver sighed: "I'll just go ahead, you guys can catch up."

Yaako changed into a suit, which was of a somewhat lighter hue than Dekared's, or a darker hue of Dekapink's. Whichever the case, her designation number was... some kind of symbol which may mean something in Yaako's own language, but not to any Earthern language. As for Fauna, she changed into a suit similar to Flora's, but instead of a green motive, it was red, and her designation number was 02.

Along with Dekasilver, they tried to pick up all of the cards that the other six dropped. Whether that was on purpose, or out of pure stupidity, nobody knew for sure, but eitherway, this made it easier for them to collect them all and to release them from their seemingly eternal prison. The Dekarangers who got released were the ones to help all of the civilians, or in some cases rookies, to get to the shuttle which will transport them out.

Meanwhile, Dekadroid Fauna felt she needed to tell something to Dekasilver: "Wells, you might wanna hear this!"

"What is it?" he asked.

"Just before they got me trapped, I had send a signal to the universe's highest court." she explained, "Officially, these people do not exist. Which means we have no legal right to delete them."

Dekasilver thought about that: "But we don't have any legal right to keep them alive either, do we?"

"The highest court has no real rule to this!" she added.

"Everybody's free!" Dekafairy interrupted them.

"That's not true!" Dekadroid Fauna corrected her, "There's still that Bettonin!"

"That shouldn't be a problem!" Dekafairy assured her.

"Good!" Dekasilver stated, "Now, let's take care of these freaks!"

The Dekarangers may not be armored like the other six, but that didn't mean that they were so much weaker than them. With ease, they managed to separate them from their palmtops, causing their suits to disappear, as if they never wore them to begin with. That's when their counterparts punched them in their faces, knocking them to the floor.

"Alright, you Western freaks..." Dekared started, as he took out his License, "For kidn..."

"Stop!" Dekasilver interrupted, "The court can't aprove their deletion!"

"It's true!" Dekadroid Fauna confirmed, "I already tried!"

"Then what do we do?" Dekablue asked.

"How about you let them suffer the fate they brought upon your friends!" Dekasilver suggested.

"Use their own weapon against them?" Dekagreen sounded happy, "Clever thinking!"

"Alright! Let's do that!" Dekapink cheered.

"But how do they work?" Dekabreak wondered.

Dekayellow, who looked into the six's minds, knew the answer: "Just like we use our own Licenses. Point it to them and press this button!"

Suddenly, the other six were about to recover. But the Dekarangers wouldn't give them the chance to. Just like they had done to their friends, the Dekarangers changed the six of them into cards. Once that was done, all of the six were whining their heads off. The only one who understood every word they said, however, choose to ignore them.


	10. Chapter 10

Back at Dekabase, Wells had in short told everybody about how and why he got onto the shuttle.

"You expect us to believe that?!" Hoji replied, "You just overheard the others talk and you decided to go with them?"

"That's the stupidest thing I ever heard!" Ban added to this.

"You can believe it or not, I honestly stopped caring long ago." Wells replied flatly.

"And another thing?!" Hoji still wondered, "Why did you say that Gyoku didn't deserve your respect?"

"I had to tell them something." Wells replied, "If I even gave a slight impression that I'd care about what happens to him, they could use that to their advantage."

"But clearly you couldn't say anything if closer friends of yours were in trouble." Sen remarked.

"Yeah... there's that..." Wells sighed.

"And since when do you care about what would happen to me?" Hoji asked.

"You, nor Ban, were the only ones in trouble, Tomasu." Wells replied, keeping his tone dry.

Somehow, the fact that Wells called Hoji by his last name got him (Hoji) to stop talking. Jasmine, however was an entirely different story: "Speaking of which, how did you know Gyoku was faking his crippleness?"

"I've known it ever since the moon mission." Wells replied, "The first second that I saw him walking towards me, I knew he was faking the whole thing."

"How is that possible?!" Ban couldn't believe he's hearing this, "I've known him for months, as do many others! How could you possibly realize that after knowing him for only a few seconds?!"

Wells chuckled: "You guys have never been shot in the leg before, have you?"

Everyone, aside for Jasmine who already knew, made their usual surprised faces.

"Someone needs to check you guys about that twitch of yours." Wells remarked, after which he continued: "Anyway, I know a thing or two about walking with a cane. That's how I knew that that guy couldn't really be cripple."

Everyone thought this through. Tetsu was the first to talk: "I've seen people recovering from such wounds and I didn't even figure that out!"

"There's still..." Hoji started, but got interrupted.

"Look, I've answered all your questions, but nobody ever answered mine!" Wells sounded furious, "Why did that guy keep that act up? Even during an emergency like the one he was in?"

Umeko was the one with an answer in mind: "Making his enemies underestimate him?"

"That's only your opinion." Wells remarked flatly, "Oh well. If you folks don't mind, I've got other things to attend to."

Wells got up to leave the room. Once he was out of sight, Jasmine got up as well: "I... I think he could use my help."

She too left, just in time so she didn't hear Tetsu say 'nonsense'.

Shortly after they had left, Swan entered the conference room: "Doggy? What do you want me to do with these?"

She held up the palmtops which were used to capture the other six earlier. Doggy didn't need to think twice to answer: "Destroy them! They cannot fall into the wrong hands!"

"But what about these guys?" Shelly asked, as she had accompanied Swan to the room.

"File them with the reports if you have to. I don't care what happens to them, as long as there's no chance of them escaping." Doggy replied.

Meanwhile, Jasmine had already caught up with Wells: "Bill...!"

Wells stopped as he heard the sound of her voice. He turned to look at her. A look on his face was enough for Jasmine to know exactly what it was he had on his mind. She moved closer to him, so she could start talking: "... Look, I... I'm sorry for having been so cold to you lately."

Wells wasn't sure how he should reply to that. Nor did he need to, for Jasmine kept talking: "I... I now know that if there's something you're not telling, you have a good reason not to. I mean you... you've been so honest to me to talk about your past, so..."

"I still haven't told you everything." Wells whispered, "I... I haven't told you about who La..."

Jasmine shushed him: "I don't wanna hear it if you don't wanna tell me. Okay?"

A smile started to appear on his mouth, although Wells appeared to have some difficulty in doing so. Either he didn't want to smile, or he wasn't used to smile like that. It didn't matter, for Jasmine had already moved closer to him, and said: "You know, Umeko and Sen were planning to go to Better Tomorrow together, tonight. And they had asked me if I wanted to join them. You wanna come too?"

There was a peculiar look on Wells' face, which Jasmine knew only too well, whenever he was thinking: "Curious. Sen asked me if could join them too."

Jasmine giggled: "You don't think they would ask us to come with them just so..."

Wells didn't bother to listen to the rest of the sentence: "I don't know, Marika. Then again, I don't really feel like going with them tonight."

Jasmine couldn't understand: "Y... Wh... what do you wanna do then?"

Wells merely pointed to his head, indicating Jasmine to read his mind. She did, which somehow brought about some kind of euphoria to her. Next thing she knew, Wells wrapped his arm around her waist and dragged her out of the corridor.

"Ooof... I love the way you think!" she only just managed to say.

**THE END**


End file.
